Estonia national football team 1921

The 1921 season was the second year of competitive football in the Baltic country as an independent nation.

Matches

The team played their first matches at home turf, but playing in front of the home crowd was not enough to win. Neither did they manage to score a goal.

Estonia vs Sweden

In the first game, against Sweden, the team managed a goal-less draw. The visitors had a penalty in closing minutes of the first half, but failed to convert it as the taker hit the crossbar. Follow-up to the match, Swedish newspaper Idrottsbladet joked that the match ball had to be chosen from two balls – one quadrangular and one octangular. The latter one was chosen as more rounder one.^[1]

Estonia  v  Sweden

23 July 1921 Friendly	Estonia	0 – 0	Sweden	Tiigiveski spordiplats, Tallinn
		Report		Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Karl Akel (EST)

Estonia vs Finland

The second game of the year was also the second time the Estonians played against their northern neighbours. Heavy waterfall turned the pitch into a quagmire, but that didn't stop Finns to overcome the newcomers. Verner Eklöf did not repeat what Swedes did a month ago and converted the penalty in the second half, thus becoming the first player to score from the spot against Estonia. As Estonia's previous captain Heinrich Paal was not present, Otto Silber took over the armband. For debutant Eduard Jõepere, this was ultimately his only appearance for the blueshirts.^[2]

Estonia  v  Finland

28 August 1921 Friendly	Estonia	0 – 3	Finland	Tiigiveski spordiplats, Tallinn
		Report	3' Grannas 9' Hirvonen 78' (pen.) Eklöf	Attendance: 2,500 Referee: Bengt Sjöström (FIN)

Players

There 12 players appeared for the national team in 1921:

Debutants

• #14–#18: Eduard Ellman-Eelma, Harald Kaarman, August Lass, Voldemar Luik and Georg Vain in the match against Sweden.^[1]
• #19: Eduard Jõepere in the match against Finland.^[2]

References